Internally cooled conveyor roll



Oct. 16, 1962 F. s. BLOOM INTERNAL-LY cooLED CONVEYOR ROLL Filed July1'7, 1959 INVENTOR Frederick 8. Bloom 9g United States Patent Ofiice3,h58,73l Patented Get. 16, 1952 3,058,731 INTERNALLY COOLED CONVEYORROLL Frederick S. Bloom, Mount Lebanon Township, Allegheny County, Pa.Bloom Engineering (30., 857 W. North Ave. N.S., Pittsburgh 33, Pa.)

Filed July 17, 1959, Ser. No. 827,890 4 Claims. (Cl. 263-6) Thisinvention relates to an internally cooled conveyor roll utilizable in orin connection with industrial furnaces. More particularly, thisinvention pertains to water-cooled rolls for roller hearth furnaces forthe metal industries.

In the heating of intermediate steel shapes to finish temperatures above2000 F. while supportably conveying them on rolls, the use of alloyrolls is expensive and often subject to undue deterioration. This isparticularly the case where the shapes are to be heated to finaltemperatures in the neighborhood of 2250 F. and above. On the otherhand, when conventional water-cooled rolls are used under such furnaceconditions, transversely spaced peripheral supports generally areutilized to support the work and even though welded to the water-cooledroll, they tend to deteriorate relatively quickly, necessitating removalof the roll for reconditioning or replacement and to impair refractorywhich may be against them. In the instant invention, internally cooledconveyor rolls are provided which are relatively trouble-free, lessexpensive and longer lasting, even under relatively high temperaturefurnace conditions. Furthermore, such conveyor rolls are uniformlycooled with consequent avoidance of overheated or weakened portionswhich contribute to reduced roll life. Preferably, the new conveyorrolls will be covered with refractory between the work supportingportions thereof to inhibit heat losses, minimize chilling of thefurnace and work and to protect the rolls. Such refractory may alsoenable such rolls to be made out of relatively less expensive steel, orother suitable material.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will beapparent fiom the following description and the accompanying drawings,which are illustrative only, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view in cross section of a roller hearth furnaceillustrating one internally cooled conveyor roll embodiment of thisinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the conveyorroll shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along line III-III of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing another conveyor rollembodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the conveyorroll shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a view taken along line VI-VI of FIG- URE 5.

Referring to FIGURES l to 3, inclusive, of the drawings, a cross sectionof a refractory lined furnace 10 is illustrated having a horizontalroller hearth therein for the heating and heat treatment of work such asslabs, blooms, sheets, plates or other shapes of steel or other metal ormaterial. Furnace 10 may be heated by burners (not shown) firing throughports 11 above and below the hearth itself. The hearth comprises aplurality of transversely extending longitudinally spaced conveyor rolls12 of this invention. Each roll 12 comprises a water-cooled body 13having ends 14 projecting beyond the sides of the furnace for journalingin bearings 15. A gear 16 may be secured to one end of the roll body forthe turning thereof in accordance with the turning of the other rolls inthe hearth to supportably convey work 17 through 7 furnace 10 for theheat treatment of such work. A

rotary seal in joint 18 is provided at each end of the roll 12, one ofsuch joints being supplied by coolant such as Water through a main 19,through a regulating valve 20 and an elbow 21 to the stationary portionof the joint 18, the other portion of which revolves with the roll whilemaintaining the seal therein. At the other end, the efiluent coolantpasses out through an elbow 22 and a pipe 23 to a sump 24 from which thecoolant is discharged to a sewer or recirculated through a cooling towerfor return or otherwise handled as desired.

As shown, body 13 may be made of high strength steel pipe sections withthe ends 25 of those sections swaged to a diameter greater than thediameter of the cylindrical conduit portion of the body 13 between suchends. The

swaged ends of abutting sections may be welded together in a watertightjoint to form integral annular disks 26 with peripheral faces 27 tosupportably convey the work 17. Before the opposed adjoining ends 25 arewelded or otherwise secured together, a distributor plate 28 ispositioned in each disk 26 transverse to the axis of the roll and spacedfrom the respective sides 29 thereof. The plates 28 are secured in placeby welding or otherwise and are provided with circumferentially spacedopenings 30, the aggregate area of which will cause the coolant water tospurt through such openings when water fills and is forced through theinterior of each roll 12 in the direction of arrow 31. Thereby, suchwater will fiow over and wipe the entire interior of the roll body 13inclusive of the disks 26 in generally uniform manner around the axis ofthe roll to prevent hot spots and inhibit the formation of any gaspocket within the disk 26. The initial pressure head of the coolant willbe sufiicient to provide a suitable pressure drop across each plate 28before the coolant reaches discharge pipe 23. Such distributor plates 28may also serve to rigidify the roll construction. Precast or castablerefractory material 32 is employed to cover the sides 29 and cylindricalsurfaces 33 of the conveyor roll body sections in higher temperaturefurnaces especially to inhibit deterioration of the roll and chilling ofthe work and furnace.

In the modified embodiment shown in FIGURES 4 to 6, inclusive, partsgenerally corresponding in construction and functioning are providedwith the same reference numerals, respectively, with the addition of aprime accent thereto. In such modified embodiment, the internally cooledroll body 13' may be made in sections as aforesaid and assembled withoutthe use of distributor plates. However, a stationary outlet manifold 34is provided so as to extend through the body 13. The right hand end ofmanifold 34, as shown in FIGURE 4, may be supported in fixture 21' andplugged or otherwise separated from the stream of coolant water passingthrough that fixture 21. The left hand end of manifold 34 is supportedin stationary fixture 22' and has an outlet therefor which is separatefrom the Water outlet to which discharge pipe 23' is connected. A ventpipe 35 communicates with the left hand end of manifold 34 to conductgas, such as steam, passing therethrough into a body of dischargedcoolant liquid 36 in sump 24'. Vertical intake branches 37 are fastenedto manifold 34 with the upper ends thereof adjacent to the inside of thetopmost point or crest of the respective faces 27', whether the rolls 12are turning, or are stationary at the time being. Thus, any gas whichmay tend to accumulate inside the disks 26 will vent itself through theintakes 37 and manifold 34 to insure liquid coolant contact against thewhole of the interior of each roll 12' inclusive 0 of the hollow annulardisk portions 26 thereof.

Various changes may be made in the illustrated embodiments and otherembodiments provided without departing from the spirit of this inventionor the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A water-cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a' pluralityof body sections in end-to-end relation, at least some of said bodysections having their respective adjoining ends in enlarged form andjoined to form hollow annular disks along said roll, a distributor platehaving openings therethrough around its circumference and secured withineach disk across the entire interior thereof between the respectivesides of said disk, the area of the openings through said distributorplate being less than the adjacent cross section for coolant flow, meansfor admitting coolant directly to the whole interior of said roll at oneend and discharging it from the other, and refractory fixed to theperiphery of said roll and covering the same inclusive of the sides ofsaid disks.

2. An internally cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, aplurality of tubular metal body sections in end-.to-end relation, atleast some of said body sections having their respective adjoining endsin enlarged form and joined to form hollow annular disks along saidroll, and a distributor plate having openings therethrough around itsouter portion and secured within each disk across the entire interiorthereof between the respective sides of said disk and to the interior ofthe peripheral portion thereof, thevarea of the openings through saiddistributor plate being less than the adjacent cross section area forcoolant flow.

3. A water-cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a pluralityof sections having cylindrical hollow metal body portions, a pluralityof hollow metal annular disks between said portions with the respectiveinteriors opening fully into each other, a distributor plate positionedacross said sections within said disks and fixed to the interiorthereof, said distributor plate having openings therethrough to directwater against the interior of said disks uniformly around the axis ofsaid roll, and a refractory covering for and fixed to said portions.

4. A water-Cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a pluralityof cylindrical hollow metal body portions, a plurality of hollow metalannular disks between said portions with the respective interiorsopening into each other, and a plurality of distributor platespositioned .at least in said disks respectively and having openingsaround the periphery of each thereof to promote and maintain watercontact. against the interior of said body including said disks, saidplates being attached to the inside of said body respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.15,011 Costello Dec. 21, 192.0 7 723,276 Hughes Mar. 24, 1903 1,634,858Stoop July 5, 1927 2,021,913 Fallon Nov. 26, 1935

